Late Night Fiction - Polar Review
Posted by Hunter on Tue, 17 Jul 2012.
Phill Morris: Vocals/Guitar
Reece Britton: Bass/Vocals
James Thompson: Guitar/Vocals
Nat Lawson: Drums/Vocals
With quotes such as:
"Sweet-and-sour-core" - Jim Henson
"Absolutely sick as ***" - Fred Dibnah
"Disgustingly good" - David Cameron P.M.
and a description like this:
Around two years ago, four MEN were chased by four separate packs of wild dogs, all from different locations. These were completely unrelated events, and dogs. By chance, however, said four MEN converged upon the same destination. This being Hessle Foreshore. After meeting and joining forces, said MEN proceeded to tame the rabid BEASTS. For a time they could be seen smashing instruments whilst riding DOG-BACK. Hessle Foreshore-CORE was born. These days, they can be found smashing stringed dogs whilst riding GUITAR-BACK. Post-Hessle Foreshore-CORE was born. This is how they roll.
It's hard to ignore "Melodic Post Hardcore" Hull Quartet "Late Night Fiction", although since genres are getting narrower all the time, we may well use Post-Hessle Foreshore Core. Polar is the second EP to be released by the band, and it's a bit of a stormer. I'm not a huge fan of melodic post hardcore, but there's enough here to spark my dinosaur music like interest. I'm afraid it's always the vocal stylings that test my limits the most, so if you're familiar with this type of music then it won't be a problem. Forewarned and all that!
Don't judge the whole EP by the first track, "Black Watch" because as good as it is, it's a little harder hitting then the remaining four tracks. It's a pretty energetic affair with competing vocal lines, one melodic, one extremely shouty and a solid guitar riff. This genre of music may deserve the critical observation of it being formulaic, "Late Night Fiction" are anything but, and what would initially seem like a run of the mill track, "Black Watch" transcends well beyond that, twisting and turning unexpectedly.
"Exits, Persuaded By A Bear" was something of a shock when it first started, and is perhaps more of an indication of the bands roots. "Black Watch" seems to be a decent track that's expected, whereas "Exits, Persuaded By A Bear" appears to be more the type of song the band sat down and asked themselves what they wanted to do musically. Lovely layered guitar riffs, it gives a great insight in to what they're capable of. Is it a fluke? Absolutely not.
"Smashy 'Smashy Beast' Beast" (no that isn't a typo!) confirms that this light hearted band actually have pretty serious musical intentions. Given that, as I've said, I'm not a fan of this genres vocal style, it's understandable that I enjoyed the third track the most. I love the use of the harmonics, the switching between nice ambient guitars to hard distortion, the nice lead guitar line and the machine gun ricocheting delivery of the drums. Terrific! Dialetics continues the moody guitars, and for a moment I swear that Morris is delivering the lines in an almost Lily Allen style, but it works. Final track, "Relax Please" will allow you to do anything but. It's quite a slow build up, but it's certainly ominous, and when you least expect it, nice ambient guitar work again. All in all "Polar" is probably set to break a few peoples minds with it's daring experimentation, well worth a listen.